They do seem to teach bigger circuits this side of the pond.....I was taught to fly them so that an engine failure at any point would still let me make the runway.
At Gloucester they routinely fly finals over the whole of Cheltenham - I prefer to turn in at the "doughnut" on the edge of town.
Must confess that some of them fly such huge circuits I lose sight of the traffic and sometimes turn in before them........ATC don't have a problem with this is you can pull it off (and sometimes even request it).